This unit focuses of the tall characters Johnny Appleseed, Pecos Bill, John Henry, and Paul Bunyan. The students will learn that tall tales teach lessons that can be applied to everyday life and will discuss ways they can apply the lessons to their personal lives. This unit is also designed to teach students about comparing and contrasting, how to work with partners and in groups, how to use different forms of technology to show what they have learned, and how to write a tall tale of their own.
Grade Level /Subject
Grade Level: 2nd
Subject: Reading
Technology Integration
Group Tall Tale PowerPoint
The students will work in groups of four to create this PowerPoint.
They will add a slide for each tall tale character discussed in the unit.
The slides must include three things learned about each character, the lesson they learned from the book, and how the lesson applies to everyday life.
Microsoft Word
The students will work with a partner to create a Venn Diagram to compare and contrast two different versions of the Paul Bunyan story.
The students will use Microsoft Word to create a timeline of Pecos Bill's life.
Activotes
The students will use ActiVotes to complete a true/false quiz before beginning the lesson about Pecos Bill and after the lesson is completed.
Johnny Appleseed Animoto Video
The students will work with a partner to create and Animoto about Johnny Appleseed.
They must include information from the class discussion of the book.
The video must have three picture slides and three text slides.
Individual Tall Tale Character PowerPoint
The students will choose one of the four tall tale characters that were discussed in the unit.
They will use internet research information, information learned from class discussions, and the videos that were viewed in the unit.
They must include a slide that tells what lesson they learned from that character and how they can apply the lesson to their lives.
The students must include at least eight slides in their presentation.
Unit Summary
This unit focuses of the tall characters Johnny Appleseed, Pecos Bill, John Henry, and Paul Bunyan. The students will learn that tall tales teach lessons that can be applied to everyday life and will discuss ways they can apply the lessons to their personal lives. This unit is also designed to teach students about comparing and contrasting, how to work with partners and in groups, how to use different forms of technology to show what they have learned, and how to write a tall tale of their own.Grade Level /Subject
Grade Level: 2ndSubject: Reading
Technology Integration
Group Tall Tale PowerPoint
Microsoft Word
Activotes
Johnny Appleseed Animoto Video
Individual Tall Tale Character PowerPoint
Resources
Tall Tale Jeopardy GameThis page provides information about Paul Bunyan that was not mentioned in the books that were read to the class.
http://www.paulbunyantrail.com/page7.html
This is the link to the Tall Tale Webquest that students will take part in during the unit.
http://www.teacherweb.com/SC/Blythe/talltales/ap3.aspx